Dan Wesson .22

[Piedmont]

Santa brought me one of these with the 6" full underlug barrel. I've read everything I can find on the net and won't be able to shoot it for a couple of days. It weighs a ton (49 ounces on a sort of accurate scale) and is very muzzle heavy. It is a Monson production and blued.

Have any of you owned or shot one of these and what are your impressions?

Some think the chambers were cut too loosely on these but I don't know if they all were. I guess I'm worried it might not be accurate like the centerfire versions are known to be.

[runfiverun]

wessons aren't accurate?
i guess all those silhouette competetions they won should say something about the competition then.
i keep on buying the wessons from the guys that say they can't get them to shoot then re-tension the bbl's and set the gap properly.
or like my last one the guy had the bbl in backwards.
the 22's are known for not being accurate though. try some copper rounds in it.

[Trey45]

Run you're way off base, he said he's afraid his 22 won't be accurate like the centerfires are. He said nothing about the centerfire dan wessons being inaccurate.

[SethD]

They are ok if you get a good one. Some years the quality control was lacking and some guns suffered from rough chambers etc. The accuracy usually seems to be around an inch and a half to two inches at twenty five yards, sometimes a little better with the right ammo. They are nice if you want a heavy double action 22 to train with.

[fourarmed]

I have known of a few that shot 40s in silhouette, but they are rare, and generally went back to the factory - often several times - to have shockingly crude manufacturing flaws corrected. Very few are still being used for that now that the Freedoms are available. If you get a good one, they are OK, but heavy, as you note.

[anachronism]

I shot my highest ever .22 Field Pistol score with a similar (borrowed) revolver. I was totally amazed. You just might have a real treasure there. They are a heavy revolver, but that really helps dampen the ferocious recoil of the 22 LR. They are very hard to come by in my area.

[higgins]

I had one like you describe. Mine was a Monson gun too. It definitely had the rough chambers; fired cases could not be extracted with reasonable effort after the chambers got dirty. I also think the chamber mouths were cut too small and very rough. Polishing with JB compound and some very fine grinding compound fixed the chambers. It was pretty accurate though, and I really liked the double action trigger pull.

[JSH]

I have a 10" .22. It shoots 1/2" with 2 of the six cylinders, at 25. The other 4 no matter which you use, throws it to right at 2" and it just gets worse all the way to 100 yards. However, it does seem to like a couple of ammos and it will cut the groups in half with it, but the price of the ammo and then finding it is prohibitive for my budget.
Mine also has some chamber issues, but the barrel likes to be fouled really well, 60-100 rounds. A bore snake even takes too much out after 200.
REVOLTERS...........................I like em but they drive me nuts at times

[Hammer47]

I have a 10" .22. It shoots 1/2" with 2 of the six cylinders, at 25. The other 4 no matter which you use, throws it to right at 2" and it just gets worse all the way to 100 yards. However, it does seem to like a couple of ammos and it will cut the groups in half with it, but the price of the ammo and then finding it is prohibitive for my budget.
Mine also has some chamber issues, but the barrel likes to be fouled really well, 60-100 rounds. A bore snake even takes too much out after 200.
REVOLTERS...........................I like em but they drive me nuts at times

YOU SAID IT JEFF...........DW's will drive ya nuts due to this fact.
I guess that 's why the Dans run and hide when the FA's show up albeit there is JUST A BIT of a price difference. On another note, I just picked up a highly modified S/W 10 made into a 38 special pin gun that just shoots "lights out". Enough to make me want to try the Field Pistol targets one handed.

[Piedmont]

I guess I should start praying!!!

[wellfedirishman]

I have a DW 22 Pistol Pack. It is a very nice shooter, accurate, and lots of fun. One thing I recommend is buying the Wolff DW Spring pack, it does make a difference to the double action pull.

Here's my DW:
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm138/wellfedirishman/DanWesson22pistolpack.jpg

And here is a link to a great page on how to disassemble and tune them:
http://www.danwessonforum.com/?page_id=3/reloading/tuning-up-your-15-2-the-average-joe-method/

Overall, I think you will be very happy with it. It is not quite as smooth as a S&W or Colt 22, but is tons of fun, and the barrel changeability is a very nice feature.

[Piedmont]

Update. Finally got to shoot it today. The plan was to run maybe 300 rounds through it. I had my bore brush and cleaning rod with me for when the chambers got gunky enough rounds wouldn't chamber. Also part of the plan was to not do accuracy tests until I reach the 500 round mark, since I have had guns shoot -in.

The first 100 rds. went well. The next fifty we started getting misfires and the trigger started sticking in the back position. Trey (shooting buddy and fellow caster) and I went back to his house and yanked the sideplate. He has a Dan Wesson so had pulled the sideplate before. It was sooty and dry. We cleaned it out with Ed's Red and put it back together. Along the way I conned him out of a set of grips that fit my hand better and a spare front sight so I can take a file to one and get a black post (don't like them inserts).

After I got home the action froze up on me. I started to take it apart and when I loosened the top side plate screw it all popped loose inside (meaning the hammer and trigger freed up, working normally). Hopefully that will take care of the action problems but who knows?

I did happen to put two types of ammo on paper from a rest (you know how it is) and the Winchester 333 Wally World stuff was mediocre, and some Centurian stuff was OK.

So the jury is still out on this. It will probably be a couple more shooting sessions until I get to the 500 rd. mark and can start testing ammo in ernest. That should give me time enough to file a front sight. Oh, extraction was easy for the entire 150 rds. which wouldn't have happened with other DA .22s I have used. That might be a mixed blessing if this one doesn't prove accurate.

[Trey45]

Your shootin buddy sounds like a helluva good guy.

[Three44s]

Two Dan's here:

A .22 lr Monson

A .41 VH Monson


I bought the .22 for cross training the centerfire gun.

My .22 needs some spring help ......... the .41 is NIRVANA!

Three 44s

[wellfedirishman]

Piedmont, take a look at the link I gave above, it will tell you how to open, clean and tune up the DW. Once it is smoothed out, it is a great shooter. Don't give up on it yet. New Wolff springs will do wonders also.

[Piedmont]

Well Fed Irishman, I did look at that link and have it bookmarked. The thing is this gun is virtually new. I put much more wear (cylinder lines) on it in 150 rds. than was on it originally. If I go to smoothing parts in the future I would like to be able to see some wear patterns to use as a guide. I don't have those yet. So I am not going to mess with stones or springs until I get this sorted out better.

I do appreciate the link though, and the advice.

I have a question on those springs. If I was getting some misfires near the end (lots actually) of my shooting session it seems I might want more spring power not less. Does Wolff make full power springs for the Dan Wessons?

[wellfedirishman]

Piedmont, the misfires might be due to the ammo? I have never had any misfires with my Dan Wesson using Federal Automatch or even Federal bulk.

I don't think that Wolff makes a standard spring pack, just the reduced power.

[Piedmont]

Wellfedirishman, I don't think due to ammo. The first 100 with same types of ammo were perfect, then we started getting misfires and the trigger started sticking backward after firing. I suspect either crud on the dry internals or that sideplate rubbing the hand or hammer or trigger or all three and bleeding off enough power that it lead to misfires. If you have any knowledge of what a too tight sideplate can cause on these I am all ears. But it wasn't too tight to start and we didn't tighten it but if it was borderline too tight and then some soot from shooting got in there.....well, I think that is what happened.